Ewww... I will definitley not be watching this. What a stupid idea... only Fox would air something like this.

12-20-2004, 10:11 PM

Jarron

When I first saw this, I thought it was one of those fake reality shows thats just a commercial for Geico Insurance. Its in such bad taste. On a side note, I really really wish the Geico commercial of putting newlyweds in a tiny house was a real show :lol

12-20-2004, 10:36 PM

MsMamba

Disgusting

Reality tv has reached an all time new low.

12-20-2004, 11:08 PM

dagwood

I think it is a horrible idea...but will probably watch it just like you have to stop and look at a train wreck.

12-20-2004, 11:10 PM

Mariner

Did anyone else see Saturday Night Live mock this? They reported the premise of the show as a young woman having to identify which of eight men is her biological father and then marry him. :lol :lol Sadly, I wouldn't put it past Fox.

12-23-2004, 08:17 PM

JR.

'Who's Your Daddy?' adoption TV show sparks furor

Quote:

By Jill Serjeant, Reuters | December 23, 2004

LOS ANGELES -- Plans to air a television game show in which an adopted woman picks out her father from a panel of impostors have thousands of people deluging Fox TV with letters and e-mails to get the show shelved.
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The "Who's Your Daddy?" show, in which a young woman given up for adoption as a child gets a $100,000 prize for picking out her biological father from a line-up, is the latest in America's obsession with reality TV programming.

News of the show sparked both a grass-roots campaign among adoptive parents and protests from national adoption organizations who called the idea offensive, voyeuristic and exploitative. Six episodes have been filmed but so far only one has been scheduled for broadcast, on Jan. 3.

Fox, a unit of News Corp. Inc., has yet to respond directly to its critics but said in a statement that although the title was "attention-grabbing" it was not indicative of the content.

Deborah Capone, a single mother with a 5-year-old adopted daughter, is behind an e-mail campaign that has generated more than 5,000 messages to Fox in a week asking for a meeting and for the show to be axed.

"By turning adoption reunions into a game show, 'Who's Your Daddy?' takes an intensely personal and complex situation ... and transforms it into a voyeuristic display," Capone said.

Capone said she was astounded at the response although she has heard nothing from Fox. She next plans to encourage her supporters to target potential advertisers and Fox TV affiliates to persuade them to abandon the show.

Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, wrote to Fox describing the show as "destructive, insensitive and offensive" to the tens of millions of Americans with adoption in their families.

"The very idea of taking such a deeply personal, complex situation and turning it into a money-grubbing game show is perverse, destructive and insensitive to others," he wrote.

Kevin Healey, one of the show's executive producers, said he was taken aback by the reaction given the fact that the participants, their biological parents, and their adoptive parents were all willing and informed.

"Knowing what we did and the lives that we changed for the positive, I was very surprised. I expected there to be a reaction to the title but I felt people would watch it and then make their decisions," Healey told Reuters.

Healey said the idea was inspired by a friend who is adopted. "It came from a very pure place not from a place of trying to embarrass or harm anyone," he said.

Reality programming, in which ordinary people put themselves in embarrassing or emotionally charged situations, has dominated American television for the past three years, producing efforts such as "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire", "Survivor", "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

I mean if these two people want to reunite on television, be my guest. I'm not forced to watch them.

12-30-2004, 06:53 PM

Reality tv fan

Not sure if I would watch this, the idea of it sounds so low :mmm

01-03-2005, 12:50 PM

Lucy

At least one Fox affiliate says they won't show this show.

Quote:

Fox Affiliate Dumps 'Daddy'

Jan 2, 10:21 PM (ET)

By Cynthia Littleton

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - At least one Fox Broadcasting Co. affiliate has balked at airing Monday night's 90-minute special "Who's Your Daddy," which has raised the ire of adoption advocacy groups for a premise that revolves around an adopted woman trying to pick her biological father from a group of eight candidates.

WRAZ-TV (Fox 50) in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., has yanked "Daddy" and instead will air a documentary, "I Have Roots and Branches: Personal Reflections on Adoption," in the 8-9:30 p.m. EST block slated for "Daddy."

"We are proud to share this enlightening and heartwarming program, both as informative, appropriate family viewing, and as a public service as well," FOX 50 VP and General Manager Tommy Schenck said on the Web site of the station's Capitol Broadcasting Co. parent.

WRAZ executives could not be reached for additional comment during the New Year's holiday weekend, but a promo blurb for the telecast of "Roots and Branches" was prominently featured on the station's Web site (http://www.fox50.com).

Fox and News Corp. executives have been catching flak from adoption advocates and many other critics since it formally announced the scheduling of "Daddy" last month. The show challenges a woman who was adopted as an infant to pick her father from a group of eight men for a $100,000 prize. If the woman picks the right man, she wins the $100,000, but if not the impostor gets the money. Fox has shot a total of six episodes of "Daddy" but so far has scheduled only one airing as a special.

The Fort Worth-based Gladney Center for Adoption decried the show's premise, calling it "reprehensible" and "offensive."

The New York-based Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute last week called "Daddy" "insensitive and harmful" and demanded an "urgent meeting" with senior Fox executives.

Fox reps have stressed that despite the show's provocative title, all of the people featured in "Daddy" were willing participants and that regardless of the competitive element, all of the women are reunited with their biological fathers as a result of their participation in the show.

In response to WRAZ's decision to dump "Daddy," Fox noted that the special had been "thoroughly vetted" by the network's standards and practices department.

"However, any network affiliate that feels the programing may be inappropriate for their individual market has the right to pre-empt the special," Fox said in a statement.

I definitely soar through life with a 'live and let live' philosophy, so I figure if this woman thinks it's appropriate to search for her birthfather in a game-show format, more power to her. However, as an adoptive mother with an almost-18-year-old daughter, I have to say, it wouldn't be my choice (nor my daughter's). It has provided fodder for some interesting conversations in our house, though. :)

It certainly seems that some people will expose any (and all) facets of their life to either a) be on tv, or b) for the right sum of money, or c) both (I suspect it's 'c'). It never ceases to amaze me. Am I to assume the above article implies they found more than one woman to do this? All along, I thought they had shot one woman's (or should I say contestant's) adventures.....sounds like they've found six women who were up for this 'game'? Why stop there....what about men looking for their birthmothers.....what about siblings looking for other siblings........they could have old photos, and people would have to try to match what their long-lost loved one looks like today. :lol Or, pet owners could look for lost pets....the possibilities are endless. :teeth